tragedy, which had long been kept back for want of encouragement: but in this benevolent purpose he met with no small difficulty from the temper of Johnson, which could not brook that a drama, which he had formed with much study, and had been obliged to keep more than the nine years of Horace, should be revised and altered at the pleasure of an actor. Yet Garrick knew well, that without some alterations, it would not be fit for the stage. A violent dispute having ensued between them, Garrick applied to the reverend Dr. Taylor to interpose. Johnson was at first very obstinate. "Sir," said he, "the fellow wants me to make Mahomet run mad, that he may have an opportunity of tossing his hands, and kicking his heels." He was, however, at last, with difficulty, prevailed on to comply with Garrick's wishes, so as to allow of some changes; but still there were not enough.

When asked how he felt upon the ill success of his tragedy, he replied, "Like the Monument;" meaning that he continued firm and unmoved as that co. lumn. And let it be remembered, as an admonition to the genus irritabile of dramatic writers, that this great man, instead of peevishly complaining of the bad taste of the town, submitted to its decision without a murmur. He had indeed, upon all occasions, a great deference for the general opinion: "A man," said he, "who writes a book, thinks himself wiser or wittier than the rest of mankind; he supposes that he can instruct or amuse them; and the public, to whom he appeals, must, after all, be the judges of his pretensions."

BOSWELL." Foote has a great deal of humour." JOHNSON." Yes, sir." BosWELL." He has a sin

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gular talent of exhibiting character." JOHNSON. 66 Sir, it is not a talent, it is a vice; it is what others abstain from. It is not comedy, which exhibits the character of a species, as that of a miser gathered from many misers; it is farce, which exhibits indi viduals." BOSWELL." Did not he think of exhi. biting you, sir?" JOHNSON. "Sir, fear restrained him he knew I would have broken his bones. I would have saved him the trouble of cutting off a leg; I would not have left him a leg to cut off." BOSWELL. "Pray, sir, is not Foote an infidel?" JOHNSON." I do not know, sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but, if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the subject." BoSWELL." I suppose, sir, he has thought superficially, and seized the first notions which occurred to his mind." JOHNSON. "Why then, sir, still he is like a dog, that snatches the piece next him. Did you never observe that dogs have not the power of comparing? A dog will take a small bit of meat as readily as a large, when both are before him.”

Boswell found fault with Foote for indulging his talent of ridicule at the expense of his visitors, which he colloquially termed making fools of his company. JOHNSON. "Why, sir, when you go to see Foote, you do not go to see a saint: you go to see a man, who will be entertained at your house, and then bring you on a public stage; who will entertain you at his house for the purpose of bringing you on a public stage. Sir, he does not make fools of his company; they whom he exposes are fools already; he only brings them into action."

Speaking of Arthur Murphy, whom he very much loved, "I don't know," said he, "that Arthur can be classed with the very first dramatic writers; yet at present, I doubt much whether we have any thing superior to Arthur."

It being mentioned, that Garrick assisted Dr. Brown, the author of The Estimate, in some dramatic composition; " No, sir ;" said Johnson, "he would no more suffer Garrick to write a line in his play, than he would suffer him to mount his pulpit."

Dr. Goldsmith's new play, She Stoops to Conquer, being mentioned-JOHNSON." I know of no comedy, for many years, that has so much exhilarated an audience that has answered so much the great end of comedy-making an audience merry."

Goldsmith having said, that Garrick's compliment to the queen, which he introduced into the play of The Chances, which he had altered and revised this year, was mean and gross flattery-JOHNSON. "Why, sir, I would not write, I would not give solemuly under my hand, a character beyond what I thought really true; but a speech on the stage, let it flatter ever so extravagantly, is formular. It has always been formular to flatter kings and queens; so much so, that even in our church-service, we have our most religious king' used indiscriminately, whoever is king. Nay, they even flatter themselves :- we' have been graciously pleased to grant.'-No modern flattery, however, is so gross as that of the Augustan age, where the emperor was deified. 'Præsens Divus habebitur Augustus.' And as to meanness, (rising into warmth,) how is it mean in a player, a showman,-a fellow who exhibits himself for a shilling-to flatter his queen? The attempt, indeed, was dangerous; for if it had missed, what

became of Garrick, and what became of the queen ? As sir Wiliam Temple says of a great general, it is necessary not only that his designs be formed in a masterly manner, but that they should be attended with success. Sir, it is right, at a time when the royal family is not generally liked, to let it be seen that the people like at least one of them."

Talking on prologue-writing, he observed, " Dryden has written prologues superior to any that David Garrick has written; but David Garrick has written more good prologues than Dryden has done. It is wonderful, that he has been able to write such variety of them."

Boswell observing that Garrick, who was about to quit the stage, would soon have an easier life. JOHNSON. "I doubt that, sir." BOSWELL." Why, sir, he will be Atlas with the burthen off his back." JOHNSON." But I know not, sir, if he will be so steady without his load. However, he should never play any more, but be entirely the gentleman, and not partly the player: he should no longer subject himself to be hissed by a mob, or to be insolently treated by performers, whom he used to rule with a high hand, and who would gladly retaliate." BOSWELL." I think he should play once a year for the benefit of decayed actors, as it has been said he means to do." JOHNSON. "Alas, sir!, he will soon be a decayed actor himself."

Boswell mentioned his having introduced to Mr. Garrick count Neni, a Flemish nobleman of great rank and fortune, to whom Garrick talked of Abel Drugger as a small part; and related, with pleasant vanity, that a Frenchman, who had seen him in one of his low characters, exclaimed, "Comment! je ne le crois pas. Ce n'est pas Monsieur Garrick,

ce grand homme!" Garrick added, with an appearance of grave recollection, " If I were to begin life again, I think I should not play those low characters." Upon which Boswell observed, "Sir, you would be in the wrong; for your great excellence is your variety of playing-your representing so well characters so very different." JOHNSON. 66 Garrick, sir, was not in carnest in what he said; for, to be sure, his peculiar excellence is his variety; and perhaps there is not any one character, which has not been as well acted by somebody else, as he could do it." BOSWELL. "Why then, sir, did he talk so?" JOHNSON. "Why, sir to make you answer as you did." BOSWELL." I don't know, sir; he seemed to dip deep into his mind for the reflection." JOHNSON. "He had not far to dip, sir; he had said the same thing, probably, twenty times before."

"Garrick," he observed, " does not play the part of Archer, in The Beaux Stratagem, well. The gentleman should break out through the footman, which is not the case as he does it."

Mrs. Pritchard being mentioned, he said, "Her playing was quite mechanical. It is wonderful how little mind she had. Sir, she had never read the tragedy of Macbeth all through. She no more thought of the play out of which her part was taken, than a shoemaker thinks of the skin, out of which he makes shoes."

He thus gave his opinion upon the merits of some of the principal performers, whom he remembered to have seen upon the stage. "Mrs. Porter, in the vehemence of rage, and Mrs. Clive, in the sprightliness of humour, I have never seen equalled.